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QBE to move out of London base | Insurance Business

Major insurer QBE is moving its European operations from London to the continent due to the UK’s departure from the European Union.

The Sydney-based global insurer will set up a new outpost in another EU country to maintain its passporting rights or access to the single market.

“We are well-advanced with our plans and negotiations for the establishment of a new location for our EU-business, and expect to have a solution in place for 2018 renewals,” QBE chairman Marty Becker told shareholders during the company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday.

“We need to prepare our business for this reality, and we are doing so on the assumption the existing access arrangements enjoyed by UK-domiciled insurers to the other 27 European Union countries will not be preserved,” Becker explained.

However, QBE’s post-Brexit plan would not significantly affect its workforce in the UK, according to CEO John Neal.

“It does not involve the meaningful movement of staff,” Neal was quoted as saying in a report by The Australian. “Policyholders won’t see any difference in the way we deal with them.”

Neal also told investors that QBE’s European unit was again the company’s best-performing division following “another good year in a marketplace that is increasingly difficult.”

“European Operations has shown strong resilience in the most challenging of markets,” Neal said. “The quality of this business is evidenced by this division producing the group’s best underwriting result for a second year in succession.”